The Best Laid Plans
by LaurenBrogs89
Summary: Trust him to ruin her meticulously rehearsed plan.
1. Chapter 1

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Although allowing herself to think his name was far too painful and in spite of the numerous distractions she had engaged her brain with in an effort to not think about him, Rachel had rehearsed for this moment thousands of times in the privacy of her bedroom. Even outstanding actresses such as herself needed rehearsal to perform perfectly. Their next meeting was supposed to come during an audition in her second year in New York. She would go to an open casting call whilst still completing her studies at Julliard on an off chance and to gain more audition experience. Due to the overwhelming nature of her talent, Rachel would beet out much of her more experienced competition and gain a call back for the part of Elphaba in the revival of Wicked (this was however, the only detail that quite often changed according to whichever soundtrack was currently playing from her extensive selection on i-tunes, last week it was Wendla in Spring Awakening) the director would announce that she would be partnered up with come of the actors auditioning for the part of Fiyero (Melchior/Marius/Tony) in order to test their chemistry.

He would walk on from the other side of the stage and their eyes would meet. Her heart would skip a beat and his face would fall in shame at being faced with the person to whom he had committed all of his most atrocious deeds. They would sing As Long as You're Mine (The Guilty Ones/A Little Fall of Rain/ Tonight) together and Rachel would dazzle the director with her powerhouse voice and ability to portray love tinged with sadness for a person she has never met before and although she won't know it then will gain the part on the spot.

He will be so overcome by his shame during their audition that she will far outshine him and he will only be engaged as an understudy and chorus member as befitting his status as a heartless, unfeeling, manipulative, shallow, baby chick murdering, only cares about a stupid national title, went to UCLA rather than Julliard so will never make it anyway, in cahoots with her so called "mother", wears far to much hair gel and is nowhere near as "fastidiously groomed" as he thinks he is bastard. He will ask her if she can ever forgive him and she will state, with the perfect amount of poise and just a hint of derision, "Do you still think about that? I'm far to busy to dwell on the misdemeanours of past boyfriends!" She will then flounce away to her favourite coffee shop for her usual soy latte and to congratulate herself on finally putting him in his rightful place and gaining the closure a starlet such as herself deserved.

He would be so devastated by her brush off; he would finally feel what she felt in the parking lot that day: gut wrenching, soul destroying pain, the kind you never recover from. He would then go and disappear under whatever rock he had been hiding under that meant he couldn't pick up a phone to call and apologise to her and never be seen again.

Trust him to ruin her, if she did say so herself, astoundingly well thought out and rehearsed plan by being here, in her auditorium, on her stage, staring at her, with those eyes. Those eyes that generally made her want to do stupid things. Like run into his arms sobbing and begging him to take her back and just hold her because they were perfect together and she had missed him so much. Luckily (or unluckily if you really thought about it) the part of her that he had crushed was bigger than the infatuated school girl part of her that so often did most of her thinking. (See above re Finn Hudson and distractions)

She just stood there. Staring at him. And cursing him for ruining her plan. Can't forget that.

She was suddenly struck with the overwhelming thought that if she continued to stare into his eyes she was going to cry. This more than the aforementioned cursing roused her into speech. And she prepared to say her (amended due to him showing up far before he was supposed to) perfect line,

"I'm far too busy for this conversation, please leave now." Ending the line with a perfect hairtoss and storm out.

Unfortunately her brain and her mouth were apparently not connected whatsoever as what actually came out in a rather breathless way was,

"What are you doing here?" Damn, damn, damn, damn ,damn. Why did he have a knack of making her say and do the absolute stupidest things? (Case in point Run Joey, Run and her misguided need to pretend she wasn't head over heels in love with a boy that she had only known for two weeks and wasn't quite sure returned said feelings. She'd gotten her proof but at an extreme price.)

Tearing herself away from his gaze she managed to compose herself for his inevitably harsh reply as he had obviously come here to mock her for her lack of prom date, fact that her own mother probably still spoke to him even though she wanted nothing to do with her own flesh and blood and would rather replace her with the spawn of Satan herself (or Quinn as she is normally known as).

She is startled out of her internal imagining of all possible worst case scenarios by a gentle finger stroking her cheek softly, a gesture that somehow feels more intimate than her hottest make-out session with Finn. She had no idea he had gotten that close.

"I've come to win you back."

Oh God she has missed his voice.

"Please don't touch me" She breathes out in barely a whisper. She opens her eyes and catches a glint of something that looks suspiciously like regret in his face before she snaps out of the reverie she has been in since he touched her and retreats backwards until she hits the wall with a soft "oof" of shock.

The cold wall against her back stirs something within her and she is suddenly beyond furious.

"You don't get to do this. You don't get to come here to my auditorium, my sacred space and look at me with those puppy dog eyes and touch me like I'll just fall at your feet and do whatever you want me to do. You had that from me and you crushed it. I trusted you…" Her voice breaks but she bites her lip to stop herself from crying. She will not cry in front of him. She didn't cry when he broke an egg on her head and she won't cry now.

The not crying is getting harder and harder and she bites down on her lip so hard she draws blood. She brings her thumb to her bottom lip and it comes away covered in blood. They both look at it, shocked. And now the pain in her heart compared with the pain in her lip and the way he is looking at her with eyes full of remorse and longing all combine together and her previous effort of not crying has gone completely out of the window.

Her chest is tight and she feels ridiculous because he has only said six words and she has already caused herself an injury which will look awful in her prom photos and she is steadily on the way to hysteric crying/hyperventilating and all she can think of is how she needs to get out of there before he says anything else and makes it worse.

Before she makes it to the nearest exit, she feels a pair of arms wrapped around her and the steady thump of his heartbeat under her ear and yes this is definitely worse because her sobs have gotten louder and she has past the point of hysterics because she just missed this. Missed him. A lot.

He wipes her bloody thumb on his t-shirt and hums softly in her ear a tune that sounds suspiciously like "Hello". Her first coherent thought since he wrapped his arms around her is that Lionel Richie has a lot to answer for. When she has calmed down slightly she feels his grip loosen and teasing fingers lift her chin to meet his eyes. Before she can stop him he says,

"Come to prom with me?"

Half of her is indignant at his audacity in assuming she doesn't already have a date (the more rational side of her thinks the violence of her reaction to him probably suggests more about her current dateless state and the reason for it) and the other half of her knows she is going to say yes even though it makes her look weak and pathetic and like she has been pining for him. She has but he doesn't need to know that, his ego is too big as it is. She also thinks the fact that it only took eleven words to win her back after all the pain he has caused her is something she is hoping he won't figure out just yet and so she sets about making him sweat just a little bit.

"You know I had our next meeting meticulously planned out"

"Oh really? And how was it supposed to go?" He says with his trademark smirk fixed back in place.

"Nothing at all like this. A lot less blood was involved."

He laughed. "I'm surprised."

There is a moment of silence as they look into each others eyes and, clichéd as it may sound, see all they need to see. They lean in to one another. Before his lips can touch hers she stops.

"This doesn't mean you're forgiven."

"Is that a yes to prom?"

She kisses him to wipe away the smug look on his face. They pause again. He looks at her with a teasing glint in his eye and she already knows what he is about to say.

"You do realise that it only took me eleven words to get you back."

Damn. "Jesse!"


	2. Chapter 2

Jesse St James doesn't get nervous.

However, coming face to face with the person to whom you have done all of your worst deeds to and being unsure whether or not you are going to come out of this meeting with your balls in full working order is enough to challenge even the steeliest of resolutions.

Which is why Jesse had found himself rooted to the spot, just outside the doors to the McKinley High Auditorium. He'd managed to reach this point by a combination of sheer force of will and extremely speedy walking in case any of the New Directions were roaming the corridors. He could hold his own in a fight, but he'd prefer it if he could avoid getting blood on his favourite t-shirt. Also, handsome as he was, even he couldn't pull off winning someone back with a black eye although it probably would add a certain rugged charm to his face. He just couldn't seem to make himself open the door and walk in.

Fear for his balls aside, the biggest factor in his unwillingness to move from this spot was the overwhelming notion that he wasn't sure exactly how successful this meeting was going to be. Although he had planned this meeting meticulously for optimum impact, Operation Get Rachel Berry Back (as he had codenamed it) was not going to be easy and there was a very high probability that she (in true Rachel Berry fashion) would turn and run the second she saw him. Hence his problem, Jesse St James did not do failure. He had won every competition he had been involved in since he was three years old.

Except he hadn't. Not since he had been at UCLA. Everything and everyone there was bigger and better than any competition he had ever had in Ohio. He was no longer the big fish (or shark as he used to think of himself) in a small pond, he was a tiny piece of plankton in a gigantic ocean of competitiveness and it had finally managed to do what no other person could: bring him back down to Earth with a gigantic bump. This had been hammered home to him in a big way when he had auditioned for his campus production of Jekyl and Hyde. Not only had he not got the main part, he wasn't even supporting cast; he was (and he shuddered to even think the word) chorus. He hadn't even got a blurb in the programme, just his name alongside a long list of other chorus members. So now Jesse St James did do failure, he just didn't handle it very well.

And this is what he wanted to share with Rachel. His new found sense of humility had lead him to look back on the events of last year with a perspective his younger self could never have achieved. His stupid desire to win at all costs had seduced him back to Carmel and Vocal Adrenaline and he hadn't even stopped to think that his VA underlings would ever question his allegiance after his time at McKinley. This was most certainly not the case and he had been handed his very own Sophie's choice: stay at McKinley and possibly loose against the might of Vocal Adrenaline or destroy Rachel and guarantee himself another national title. He is ashamed to say he didn't even think about it for that long.

But long nights of dreaming about how different his life would be if Rachel was still a part of it had lead him to believe that that National Title really wasn't as important as he thought it was. Remorse and regret were not emotions he was used to feeling. Hence Operation Get Rachel Berry Back.

The bell ringing startled him out of his thoughts and his fear for his face won out over his fear for his balls and he opened the door to the auditorium swiftly and quietly engaging step one of OGRBB.

He looked to the stage and there she was. In the flesh. Looking as beautiful as he remembered and pouring her heart out in song. She looked lonely and sad up their all by herself. He was determined to remedy that. God he had missed her voice.

A key part of OGRBB was stealth as he had an inkling that if she noticed him now she would bolt before he got anywhere near her. The key to getting her to listen to him was to sneak up and shock her into it, not an easy task considering her ability to talk at a thousand words per minute in pretty much every situation but he knew if he used the right amount of St James charm he could pull it off.

Just as he reached the stage his carefully crafted plan fell apart as suddenly the music stopped and he heard a sharp intake of breath come from her direction.

Trust her to ruin his carefully crafted operation.

He met her gaze across the stage and his previous assessment that she looked lonely and sad paled in comparison to what he could see in her eyes close range. He had always been able to read her, even through her showface, and the look in her eyes now was killing him, not least because he felt at least partly responsible for it. He had left her alone in a school where the highlight of her day was not being slushied. He was the one person who had understood and shared her passion and drive for something better and he had given that up. For a stupid trophy. Suddenly his carefully crafted plan seemed ridiculous and he couldn't for the life of him think what to say.

His problem was resolved when she spoke first.

"What are you doing here?" Her gaze shuttered as she looked down.

A million different responses flashed through his mind.

"I've come to tear you away from that idiot Hudson before his flailing limbs do you permanent damage." No, that sounded jealous and he was definitely not jealous of that bumbling fool.

"I've come to apologise for publically humiliating you in a car park full of people." No, that was what he was here for but that seemed like the most sure fire way of gaining himself serious physical injury from her.

"I've come to ravish you because the thought of Finn being your first actually makes me want to punch a wall." No, again that was true but that was skipping a few steps in OGRBB.

The stricken look on her face as she waits for his answer makes his decision for him and he finds his feet are moving towards her without any actual instruction from his brain. He stops a foot in front of her and now he has gotten this close he cannot help but touch her.

He runs a finger down her cheek as he says, "I've come to win you back." Simple and direct, he thinks that's the best way to go.

Her answering whisper of "Please don't touch me." Is the most heartbreaking sentence he has ever heard and when he recovers and his heart starts beating again she is in the wings with her back against the wall, shouting at him.

"You don't get to do this. You don't get to come here to my auditorium, my sacred space and look at me with those puppy dog eyes and touch me like I'll just fall at your feet and do whatever you want me to do. You had that from me and you crushed it. I trusted you…" Her voice breaks and he thinks she is going to cry as he can see her biting her quivering lip. He is completely torn, on the one hand if she's crying at least he knows she still cares, on the other if she's crying he is causing her pain and an integral part of OGRBB is never to hurt her again (It's actually one of the mission statements).

He sees her raise her thumb to her lip and watches transfixed as it comes away covered in blood. She must have bitten a little too hard. He can see it in her face the second she decides to run. He knows he cannot allow this to happen. He covers the distance between them in record timing and only stops once his arms are around her and he can feel her tears leaking into his shirt.

He feels more at ease than he has in months now she is in his arms and he hums the tune to "Hello" into her ear as he wipes her bloody thumb on his t-shirt deciding it's fine if it's her blood. He thinks if he ever meets Lionel Richie he won't be able to thank him enough.

Now he has her in his arms, he's not going to let her go until he has what he came for. He is still Jesse St James after all. With determination he slackens his grip on her slightly and cups her chin with his hand. He brings her eyes up to meet his and he says with conviction,

"Come to prom with me." It is not a question, it is a demand.

His confidence falters when she doesn't answer him straight away. Maybe she already has a date. He bets that it is Puckerman, he was always much more competition than Finn, Run Joey Run proved that. He sees the teasing light come into her eyes and his confidence returns. He knows he has her.

"You know I had our next meeting meticulously planned out."

This game is new to her but he has been playing all his life so he answers without hesitation,

"Oh really? And how was it supposed to go?"

Knowing her and with the amount of time she has had to think about this it would probably have been much more epic and dramatic than this. He is genuinely quite curious to know what her over active imagination has cooked up. He feels the trademark St James smirk slip back into place.

"Nothing like this. A lot less blood was involved."

He is shocked, he was sure her plan ended in at least a little violence towards him.

"I'm surprised."

They move in closer and he is sure he is finally going to get to kiss her again. It's been a very long time and he is barely able to contain the full blown grin that is attempting to overtake his face. He shuts his eyes in anticipation and is mildly perturbed when nothing happens. He opens his eyes again and he can see how much she desperately wants to trust him. He decides their and then that he will do everything he possibly can to earn back that trust. Even if she wants him to shave his head and massacre his curls. He loves her that much.

"This doesn't mean you're forgiven."

He can work with that. "Is that a yes to prom?" He can't help but feel a little smug now he knows he has exactly what he came here for.

She takes him by surprise when she reaches up and pulls him towards her. He can taste her blood in a kiss that is filled with a longing that has gone unanswered by both parties for a very long time. He pulls away from what he thinks is the best kiss he has ever had the pleasure of receiving when he realises something extremely important. This time he cannot help the grin that explodes through his features.

"You do realise that it only took me eleven words to get you back."

He feels a thousand times better than when he won that national title.

He kisses her exasperated "Jesse!" from her lips.

A/N: Thankyou for the lovely reviews for this, I thought i'd post the second part before the episode actually aired so I can live in my little St Berry Bubble a little while longer.

This is my first ever piece of fanfic so i really appreciate any feedback you guys can give me. I found Jesse a lot harder to write than rachel so I would really like to know if you think i have gotten him right?

Also if you have any suggestions of things you want to see feel free as i have well and truly been bitten by the bug!


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